I live in a terrace so do not benefit from a driveway to park the EV on.

I get round this by running a cable from an upstairs window, looping it around a cross-member on the lamp-post outside then down to the van.

If I'm forced to park a couple of spaces down then I loop the cable through a V in a handy tree.

Even this though, has caused trouble. A Council official turned up one day and reported that somebody had complained. At first he thought that I had been trailing the cable across the pavement. When I described how I did it he became very sympathetic and said he would come back only if there was another complaint. One year on and I've heard nothing am glad to say.

I've had no problems with this charging method, but it does mean that I can't leave the house whilst charging in case something goes wrong or some errant local youth decides to try and haul the cable down.

We've got the same problem, so we installed a 16A socket on the front wall close to the road and then put the charge lead in a length of that black rubber trunking across the footpath you find when the council is using temporary traffic lights . So far, so good - no complaints yet!

andersonian wrote:We've got the same problem, so we installed a 16A socket on the front wall close to the road and then put the charge lead in a length of that black rubber trunking across the footpath you find when the council is using temporary traffic lights . So far, so good - no complaints yet!

The bits cost me about Ã‚Â£100 but this was with a trade discount. I have a colleague who is an electrician who i tried to get to do the job but instead he told me what to buy and then to crack on and fit them! I was quite surprised by this as there's a lot or rules about doing your own wiring.

Another chap i tried reckoned Ã‚Â£250 and then the socket would be extra so I think that's the ballpark you might find if you get the yellow pages out...

The socket could be as simple as a blue 16A socket fixed to the outside with a length of flex running through a hole in the wall. Inside you would it a Residual Current Circuit Breaker (RCCB), also known as a Residual Current Device (RCD), plug to the flex and plug it in when you need it. Only plugging in when you need it will stop the neighbours using your electricity when you are out at work.

As an alternative to the blue 16A socket you could get a weather proof, IP56, covered 13A socket outlet instead. This is the sort of thing that you might fit by your back door for the lawn mower or hedge trimmer. It is a socket in a grey box. The cover of the box lifts up and has a rubber seal on it to seal the lid with or without the plug in it.

The important thing is to have an RCCB (or RCD) either in the socket or on the plug inside your house.